


Earth's Mightiest Heroes (or at least New York's)

by blackflowercrowns



Series: Newsies Avengers AU [1]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers AU, F/M, Im excited are you?, Other, The main fic, superhero au, what what
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-09 20:19:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13489002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackflowercrowns/pseuds/blackflowercrowns
Summary: "There was an idea called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to to fight the battles we never could."When Antonio Higgins Sr. died and left his tech company and large fortune to his then teenage son, the last thing either of them expected was that Race would be asked to one day lead a group of superheroes to defend earth against forces outside this world.Well, then again neither expected him to get stranded in a desert and make a small nuclear reactor to keep his heart going. So they work with what they can.





	1. Man of Iron

**Author's Note:**

> An AU where all of the Newsies have the same superpowers as the Avengers. No background knowledge of the MCU is necessary, although it would be helpful.

The idea of having a group of superpowered humans working for the government was fishy at best, and overpowered at worst. Still, Medda Larkin of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division would rather have this group of individuals somewhere where she had power over them than running rampant like they were before she stepped in. She knew that a threat was coming, they’d known that since the bloody 40’s. But no one believed her, and her idea was scrapped. 

The day after tech giant Antonio “Racetrack” Higgins announced he was Iron Man she knew that something had to be done. He was by no means the first human with unnatural powers or brains, he was just the first to catch the international public’s eye. She decided that a visit to his place would be in order.

~~

Race tugged off his jacket and slung it over the chair in his living room. He ran his hand through his blond curls and tugged tiredly at his face.

“Evening, Iron Man.”

Race screamed and jumped back. Medda barely concealed her smile.

“That was a very foolhardy thing you did back there.”

Race stared at her. “How did you get in my house? Corona, did you let her in?”

_Of course, sir,_ Corona answered. _She asked very nicely._

“Corona, you can’t just let someone in because they asked nicely. Remind me to go over your guest protocol again.”

_Yes, sir. Director Larkin would you like some tea?_

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

From the kitchen the kettle turned on.

Race looked at the director again. “What do you want, Medda?”

“What, no _‘how are you doing, Medda,’ ‘how are the kids, Medda,’ ‘have you eaten lunch already, Medda?’_ For heaven’s sake, your robot is more well-behaved.” She crossed the room and settled into a chair. 

Race scoffed. “You broke into my house, the normal rules of politeness don’t apply. What are you doing here? And I assume my new title of Iron Man has something to do with it, based on your use of my name upon your arrival.” He moved to the desk that Medda had previously occupied and made sure she didn’t mess with any sensitive documents.

“Insightful as always,” she replied evenly. “Yes, it has to do with Iron Man. The council has an interest in you.”

Race snorted in disdain. “Don’t they always.”

“As well as others.”

Race’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Others? What for?”

“You remember the Tesseract, don’t you?”

Race nodded. He had heard about that blasted thing since he was a child.

“They think someone’s going to come after it. And they want to make a robot or something to protect the Earth when they do come. My idea, a better one, was scrapped.”

“And what was your idea?”

“Humans. Humans that are more, that can fight the battles that we can’t. But of _course_ they decided that humans were too unpredictable, and wouldn’t follow their orders to the letter. So they scrapped my idea and I’m almost certain I have less credibility than before these damn meetings started.”

“So the council scrapped your idea. What does that have to do with me?” Race grabbed a cigar and fiddled it between his fingers as he moved across the room to sit parallel with Medda.

“You are beyond their control. They can try to tell you no, but they won’t. I want you to head the project.”

Race let out a strangled sound. “Me?”

Medda smiled. “Yes, you.”

Race swallowed heavily and stood up. “I think the tea is done, let me go grab it-”

“It isn’t finished yet, Antonio. Sit.”

Race sat back down.

“Really all you need to do is find the heroes and fund the project. By then I should have either swayed the council or have found out how their project is going to work. It’ll be risky, though, Pulitzer is bound to have eyes on me.”

Race continued to stare at her. “How can you possibly think this is a good idea?”

“You’re the only person I know that has both money and a healthy disrespect for the law. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about your wilder days,” she chuckled. Race ducked his head in embarrassment. “Plus, you can disguise it as a charity function or something. You’re smart enough to get away with it.”

“I dunno, Medda. I put all the illegal stuff behind me.”

She looked at him.

“Most of the illegal stuff,” he amended.

She looked at him harder.

He changed the subject. “Medda. I can’t run a group of superheroes that will protect the world from aliens. That’s just ridiculous and there’s no way that I’m responsible enough-”

“Race. You’ll be fine," she reassured. "Just track them down, I’ll help you run the group. I left the files in the third drawer of your desk. I’ll take my tea that Corona so graciously prepared for me and get out of your hair.” She stood and walked to the kitchen as Race ran to the desk to check and see if what she said was true.

As she left his luxury apartment she heard “How did you even get in that drawer? It's been locked for thirty years!” 

She smiled to herself as she walked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Sean Austin Conlon was a self-proclaimed idiot. Sure, he was smart enough to get a scholarship into any Ivy League school of his choosing, and sure, he was at the top of his class at said fancy pants school, and sure, he was smart enough to create a formula that could alter human genetics. But he was also dumb enough to be the one to try the formula he created to alter human genetics. 

And it was all because of his dumb genetics that made him barely grace 5’4”. Of course he couldn’t just be happy with his height like his cousins. He couldn’t be glad that he could still play in the kids’ area and that he could play in the water park and that people often assumed his dates were his parent. 

So of course, dumbass Sean Conlon had to go and create a stupid ray that he hoped would make him taller, but only turned him into a hulking green monster.

_Heh. Hulking._

That’s what people were calling him now. _The hulk._ Maybe Maria down in English had come up with it. He’d always liked her. Thought she was funny.

But nobody thought he was funny anymore. He went from easily angered but fairly amicable to angry, sullen and to be avoided at all costs. After a few jabs the other day he’d ran off and tried to use the coping mechanisms he’d learned in middle school then destroyed half the lab.

Sean winced as he looked at the caution tape that still hung on the wall. 

“Professor Conlon?”

“Sean,” was his automatic reply. After suffering through all his dickhead entitled professors in undergrad, grad, and post-grad he decided that any students he ever had would just call him by his name. 

“Um, Mr. Sean,” she continued. “I don’t quite understand this assignment.” She set a stack of papers beside his different vials of chemicals, knocking a translucent purple vial. She reached out and steadied it as Sean took off his gloves and walked over. He thought he vaguely remembered her from one of his 101 classes.

He leaned over and saw some gaps in the formula and pointed out where she could find them. She nodded and scribbled in with her pencil. 

“Thank you very much,” she said tucking the pencil behind her ear. “You’ve been more helpful than you could possibly know.”

Sean waved his hand, turning to go back to his work. “No problem, sweetheart. Thanks for coming for help. Most people won’t do that.” 

“No, honestly, _you’ve been more helpful than you could know.”_

Something in her tone made the hairs on the back of neck stand up. He turned slowly and saw red smoke coming from her now glowing eyes. 

“SHIT!” he yelled, stumbling back into the table. She was growing as well, towering above him at almost twice his height. Normally people were taller than him, but not by quite that much. As he stared at her, the formula she’d asked him to solve clicked in his mind. That wasn’t homework he’d assigned to the freshmen, that was his Hulk formula.

He hears his clothes ripping before he felt them as he grew to a bit over ten feet. The two were eye level now, and the girl’s red eyes widened in surprise.

“Forget I could do this?” he asked, voice coming out an octave lower than usual.

“Not at all,” she replied coolly. “Just expected someone, hmm, _taller_.”

Sean’s brow furrowed and he grabbed her collar. He slung her into the one wall without caution tape, sending her crashing through more than a few bottles of unknown chemicals. They mixed together and made a steaming puddle on the floor. The girl stood shakily, clutching to her bleeding side. She glared at him, and made a motion like she was going to charge him. He spread his legs a little and held up his hands in a fighting position before she ran towards the wall that was more drywall than anything else. 

Sean froze for a second staring at the hole she left behind. Confused, he shook his head before giving chase. He caught up to her in a matter of seconds and grabbed her arm, ripping the paper from her hands.

“How dare you!” she cried. “We’ve worked for years on that!”

“We?!” he yelled. “Where are the others?”

“Go to hell,” she spat, breaking free of his grip and launching herself into the sky. He swore under his breath, before copying her action.

He didn’t make it quite as far as she, but it was a large distance. He could see her about a football field away. Sean swore and jumped again before she could see him. This time he landed less than a foot away. She screamed and immediately began punching him in any soft spots she could find. 

“Who are you?!” He made a right hook towards her head and she ducked. 

“I’ll never tell you!” She kicked into his stomach before whirling up with her other leg and going for his head. 

Sean grabbed her leg, looked into her startled eyes, and slammed her into the ground. He slung her over his shoulder and she hit the ground again. He could feel himself de-transforming as she hit the ground a fifth time. She moaned brokenly from her spot on the ground as he walked up and kicked her in the back of the head. She made a choked crying sound before falling silent.

Sean sat on the edge of the crater they’d created when hitting the ground, trying to regulate his breathing and assessing himself for injuries. He was so busy he didn’t even notice the noise of something flying towards him.

~~

Race steered the suit to land a few feet from the crater. The small man on its edge suddenly looked up and immediately scrambled to his feet.

“You okay?” Race asked. 

“Aw, hell no,” he muttered, looking like a startled animal that was ready to run.

Race tilted his head to the side. “What?”

“I am not going to prison because fucking Iron Man saw me beat up some girl who tried to steal my formula. I refuse.”

“I’m pretty sure you can’t refuse to be arrested -"

“Give me five minutes and I’ll show you that I can,” he glared.

Race raised his hands in a surrender motion. The two stared at each other, letting silence hang thick for a moment before Race spoke up again. 

“What’s your name? Your real one, not a superhero nickname.”

The slightly-less green monster groaned. Clearly he wasn’t in the mood for conversation. “Sean. But my friends call me Spot.”

“Antonio,” Race offered.

Spot scoffed, relaxing slightly. “Everyone already knows who you are after that dumb press stunt. Great way to get yourself killed, by the way. Let all the villains know who you are, where you live, why don’t you go ahead and give them your security codes?”

Race shrugged. “At least they’ll be attacking me because I’m Iron Man, not trying to rob me because I’m Antonio Higgins. Cuts down on the people who try to break in.”

“You’re insufferable.”

Race grinned and looked at his arm like he was wearing a watch. “I’m pretty sure it’s been five minutes. You ready to go?”

Spot paled a little bit. “Give me a few more.”

Race smiled underneath the mask, not that Spot could see it. “How about this. I’ll let you recover your strength, if you come back to my place once you’re ready.”

Spot raised an eyebrow. “At least take me to dinner first.”

Race rolled his eyes and pressed a button to make the suit open. “As much as your ego would probably enjoy the inflation, I’m not asking you back to mine for that. I’m working with an agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. to collect a group of superheroes to protect the world.”

“What would this group be called?” Spot asked, seemingly unfazed by the man stepping out of the metal war machine that hovered half a foot off the ground.

Race scratched the back of his neck. “We don’t have a name yet. Or a group, technically. If you agree it’ll just be us two. They’re still working on tracking down every other superpowered or super smart human in the country.”

Spot thought for a minute before shakily standing. “One condition. You actually buy me dinner. Turning into a giant green monster takes a lot out of me. Then maybe I’ll consider joining.” His tone betrayed that _‘maybe’_ really meant _‘I’ll do it.’_

Race’s face split into a grin. “Great! There’s a diner about five miles that way,” he said, pointing to the city skyline visible just over Spot’s shoulder. Spot turned to look and his mouth fell open in shock.

_Had he just jumped nearly twenty miles?_


End file.
